An Andalusian house

I´m learning to read and write and I like to do it on my own. All help is very welcome

Dear Fran,

the vicarage had two doors: the front door and the back one. The back door looked out onto the orchard and the kitchen garden. The front door looked out onto the lane.

     The orchard was Harry´s world. He took care of damsons and raspberries and when I did need some vegetables he helped me. The back door looked out onto the glass house too. The front door only was utilized on the occasion of important circumstances.

     The vicarage was a huge house.

     The currently house has a white facade with an old and large door. When you cross the door you´re in a big hall, sanjuan. The first room in the house is the living room which has an open feeling that is enhanced by the light and view from the patio.

     In Andalusia, the most important part in a house is the patio. From the street, a house can seem humble and modest but the richness is inside and the patio is the favourite place for the family. Leading from the living room there is a good sized bedroom where my lady sleeps.

     The patio is split in two: the more formal part, with a lemon tree, a peach tree and a jasmine, leads to a second bedroom which I sleep in. You must remember I slept in the eaves, with Edna, in the vicar´s house. This second bedroom has a wood-beamed ceiling.

Traditional Andalusian townhouse

     The kitchen and the bathroom are in the patio also. In spring and summer the jasmine scent perfumes these  rooms. Not only these rooms, the whole house.

     The kitchen allows you to go up to a study and a large attic room, complete with wood beams.

     Fran, as I can´t stop talking, I always say to my lady that this room could be converted into a two or three new bedrooms while the study might be transformed into a bathroom. But she answers me: the house is already big enough for me.

     Below stairs is a cubbyhole that was used as a bodega –a cellar for storing wine and hams. A hook it can see above the kitchen door where they used to hang the pig in for the matanza.

     The less formal section of the courtyard, the patinillo, leads to an old stable with a room upstairs which could be converted in a sunny terrace, but “the house is already big enough for her”.

     My lady has one son and one daughter. They live at the city and they have not the intention for retaining the house. For me, however, these walls represent a space of peace, comfort and happiness.

Your affectionate.

Mary